Hasta La Gadget!

If you’re one of the thousands of Halo players who are looking forward to the release of Halo: Reach this September, you may want to consider the Limited Edition Halo: Reach-themed XBox 360 that Microsoft announced today. The limited edition XBox 360 bundle will come in glossy silver with designs from the game printed on the side, a 250GB hard drive, and two wireless controllers that feature artwork from the game. The bundle will also include a Halo: Reach-themed headset, a copy of the standard edition of Halo: Reach, and a token for an in-game armor set that you can redeem when you get into the game.

The limited edition Halo: Reach bundle is available for pre-order now while supplies last, and will be available on September 14th, the same day Halo: Reach hits store shelves. Since the standard edition of the game comes with the bundle, you won’t need to order the game separately – unless you’re a hardcore Halo fan and already pre-ordered the collector’s edition. 

It may or may not actually be the most compact Nintendo 64 we’ve ever seen, but even if it’s holding down the second spot, you can’t knock the ingenuity here. Crafted by one Evil Nod, the self-proclaimed N Gear 64 is little more than an N64 console tucked, shoved and crammed inside a Sega Game Gear enclosure. Best of all, the modder somehow stuffed an N64 controller in there too, yet still left all of the original markings for nostalgia’s sake. Head on past the jump for a video of it in action, or tap that source link to learn more about the build process. Riveting stuff, we tell ya.

[Thanks, Alon]

Continue reading Modded Game Gear becomes portable home for N64 (video)

Modded Game Gear becomes portable home for N64 (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Jul 2010 06:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another autumn is fast approaching, which to FPS gamers mean only one thing: time to prepare to heed the next Call of Duty. In a repeat of last year’s controller bonanza, Mad Catz is producing a litany of licensed Black Ops peripherals — for the Wii, Xbox 360, PS3 and PC — and we’ve now got the first imagery of their appearance. The new gear hasn’t been made official just yet, but what you see here should be a good representation of the final product. Above is the 360 controller, which will share a major new feature with its PS3 brother: precision aiming. It’s a simple lowering of the analog sticks’ sensitivity when you want to do some more precise work and will be toggled by the use of “combat” buttons on the controller’s back. MSRPs are expected to land at just under $50 for the console pads and $100 for a rebadged Cyborg Rat PC mouse and accompanying 2GB USB dog tag. You’ll find a video and more pictures after the break.

Continue reading Black Ops controllers aren’t stealthy enough to avoid pre-release detection

Black Ops controllers aren’t stealthy enough to avoid pre-release detection originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Jul 2010 09:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Le sigh. For years now, Nintendo‘s online efforts have quite clearly lagged behind those of Sony and Microsoft, both of which have placed a priority on nailing online multiplayer and making it part of the draw for prospective buyers. Xbox LIVE is a entire universe of online goodies, and it’s the exception rather than the rule to see a major title launch on the 360 sans online play; in many ways, Sony sings a similar tune. Nintendo, meanwhile, seems to keep online play on the back burner, occasionally throwing it in where it’s easy enough to add but never really going out of its way to make sure the latest AAA title will allow Bobby and Jacky to play from across the street. During an investors meeting last week at E3, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata confessed that he’s “not currently satisfied with the online efforts that we have made so far,” and that the Big N is “working at ways to improve those.” In an episode of corporate double-speak to end all corporate double-speak, he followed up with this gem: “On the other hand, I do not think that online functionality is something that we should be devoting resources to for every single product.” Seriously, Iwata? You can’t think of a single reason why the next installment of Balls of Fury could benefit from online support? For shame.

Nintendo ‘not satisfied’ with online efforts, but no big changes in store originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sheesh… will you folks ever learn? There will never, ever be a Wii replacement. It’s the console that keeps on giving, and also the one that’ll never perish. It’s the end-all answer to the world’s gaming needs, and even though greater than 50 percent of the US has an HDTV, Nintendo won’t ever have to support that unwanted “1080i” format. All sarcasm, angst and bitterness aside, Nintendo’s president Satoru Iwata recently affirmed that there’s no Wii successor on the near-term roadmap. Specifically, he stated that he “doesn’t think that there is an immediate need to replace the Wii console; but of course, at some point in the future, the need will arise.” To cap things off, he added: “We currently do not have an answer as to what point in the future that need will come.” As much as we’d love to point out just how far behind the game Nintendo is in terms of graphics, we can’t argue with the sales figures, and until the collective consumer wallet deems true HD support a necessity, we suppose the Wii can just keep on keepin’ on. Much to our chagrin.

Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata: no ‘immediate need to replace the Wii’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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